Hu Xingdou

BEIJING -- Faced with declining profits and a slowing economy, China said it was drafting plans to boost private investment into industries long dominated by the state. Investors would be allowed to target government-controlled sectors such as electricity, oil and natural gas, according to the New China News Agency , citing an official at the National Development and Reform Commission on Monday. Other areas possibly open for investment include healthcare, rail transportation, education and finance.

BEIJING - The $15,000 that factory worker Li Jianli saved up to buy his white Toyota Corolla turned out to be nowhere near the costliest part of the deal. He nearly paid with his life. Li was out in the central city of Xian on a recent Saturday afternoon looking for an apartment for his soon-to-be-married son when he happened to steer the car into one of the anti-Japanese demonstrations that were rocking China. Then Li made another mistake: He leaped out of the car to plead with the mob not to trash the vehicle, which he'd bought just last year.

Three years after China was rocked by a scandal over deadly tainted milk, the country is once again grappling with concerns over food safety. In recent weeks, reports of tainted food have surfaced throughout China. The list includes diseased pigs used for bacon; noodles made of corn, ink and paraffin; rice contaminated with heavy metals; sausages made of rotten meat and fertilizer; and pork described as "Tron blue" because bacteria made it glow in the dark. The central government implemented a sweeping food-safety law in 2009 after at least six infants died and tens of thousands of people were sickened by milk adulterated with melamine.

BEIJING — Faced with declining profits and a slowing economy, China said it was drafting plans to boost private investment for industries long dominated by the state. Investors could be allowed to enter government-controlled sectors such as electricity, oil and natural gas, the New China News Agency reported Monday, citing an official at the National Development and Reform Commission. Other areas potentially open for investment include healthcare, rail transportation, education and finance.

BEIJING - The $15,000 that factory worker Li Jianli saved up to buy his white Toyota Corolla turned out to be nowhere near the costliest part of the deal. He nearly paid with his life. Li was out in the central city of Xian on a recent Saturday afternoon looking for an apartment for his soon-to-be-married son when he happened to steer the car into one of the anti-Japanese demonstrations that were rocking China. Then Li made another mistake: He leaped out of the car to plead with the mob not to trash the vehicle, which he'd bought just last year.

In a sweeping symbolic gesture, China lowered its growth target for this year, sending its clearest message yet that the world's second-largest economy could no longer expand at its steroid-charged pace. Speaking to about 3,000 delegates at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress in Beijing on Monday, Premier Wen Jiabao said China would cut its growth target for the first time in eight years, from 8% to 7.5%, to make the country's economy more "sustainable and efficient.

Already worried about runaway real estate prices that have shut millions out of the housing market, China's leaders are grappling with yet another threat to social stability: the soaring price of food. The nation's State Council on Wednesday announced that it would move to stabilize prices by cracking down on speculators and boosting supplies of some staples from government stockpiles. Beijing also urged local authorities to provide food subsidies to the neediest families. Rising food prices are the biggest driver of inflation in China, whose leaders have been struggling to downshift the nation's surging economy.

A few years ago, she embodied the rags-to-riches legend of modern China: The daughter of an illiterate farmer starts a hair salon when she is just 15, and in little more than a decade creates a business empire that makes her one of the country's wealthiest women. Now the country's "sister millionaire," still only 31 and looking much like a schoolgirl with her ponytail and straight-cut bangs, has come to symbolize something far different: opposition to the death penalty. A provincial court on Jan. 18 upheld Wu Ying's death sentence on charges of fraud and "illegal fund-raising," violating legislation aimed at fighting underground banking and loan-sharking.

One recent night shortly before midnight, a steady stream of vans ferried people from a parking lot in this southern town to an industrial area two miles away, near the border with Myanmar. After passing through the gate of the complex, the vans stopped in front of a yellow building the size and shape of a small airplane hangar.

Consumer prices in China rose 4.9% in January compared with the same month a year ago, a sign that inflation continues to plague the world's second-largest economy. That increase was lower than some analysts had expected. Still, the figures are difficult to interpret because China's National Bureau of Statistics recalibrated the index recently to give less weight to food prices, which tend to be volatile. China's inflation rate is widely believed to be understated. The government's tinkering with the consumer price index comes at a time when authorities are particularly concerned about the rising cost of food, which has an outsized effect on the budgets of ordinary Chinese.

In a sweeping symbolic gesture, China lowered its growth target for this year, sending its clearest message yet that the world's second-largest economy could no longer expand at its steroid-charged pace. Speaking to about 3,000 delegates at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress in Beijing on Monday, Premier Wen Jiabao said China would cut its growth target for the first time in eight years, from 8% to 7.5%, to make the country's economy more "sustainable and efficient.

A few years ago, she embodied the rags-to-riches legend of modern China: The daughter of an illiterate farmer starts a hair salon when she is just 15, and in little more than a decade creates a business empire that makes her one of the country's wealthiest women. Now the country's "sister millionaire," still only 31 and looking much like a schoolgirl with her ponytail and straight-cut bangs, has come to symbolize something far different: opposition to the death penalty. A provincial court on Jan. 18 upheld Wu Ying's death sentence on charges of fraud and "illegal fund-raising," violating legislation aimed at fighting underground banking and loan-sharking.

Three years after China was rocked by a scandal over deadly tainted milk, the country is once again grappling with concerns over food safety. In recent weeks, reports of tainted food have surfaced throughout China. The list includes diseased pigs used for bacon; noodles made of corn, ink and paraffin; rice contaminated with heavy metals; sausages made of rotten meat and fertilizer; and pork described as "Tron blue" because bacteria made it glow in the dark. The central government implemented a sweeping food-safety law in 2009 after at least six infants died and tens of thousands of people were sickened by milk adulterated with melamine.

Already worried about runaway real estate prices that have shut millions out of the housing market, China's leaders are grappling with yet another threat to social stability: the soaring price of food. The nation's State Council on Wednesday announced that it would move to stabilize prices by cracking down on speculators and boosting supplies of some staples from government stockpiles. Beijing also urged local authorities to provide food subsidies to the neediest families. Rising food prices are the biggest driver of inflation in China, whose leaders have been struggling to downshift the nation's surging economy.

One recent night shortly before midnight, a steady stream of vans ferried people from a parking lot in this southern town to an industrial area two miles away, near the border with Myanmar. After passing through the gate of the complex, the vans stopped in front of a yellow building the size and shape of a small airplane hangar.